Rome - Manchester United and Barcelona have swept all before them domestically this season and now face off on Wednesday in Rome for the title "champions of Europe."Having already secured La Liga with ease and trounced Athletic Bilbao 4-1 in the King's Cup final, Pep Guardiola's Barca stand on the verge of going one better than arch-rivals Real Madrid and becoming the first Spanish team to ever win the treble.
United famously secured an English league, FA Cup and Champions League treble of their own in 1999 at Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium when injury-time goals from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer secured an unlikely 2-1 victory over Bayern Munich.
This time around, United have missed out on a chance of adding another FA Cup to the Old Trafford trophy cabinet after going down in a penalty shootout to Everton at the semi-final stage.
However, Sir Alex Ferguson's side have already pocketed the World Club crown, the League Cup and a third Premier League title in succession this season to draw level with Liverpool on 18 domestic titles.
Victory against Barca in the Stadio Olimpico would see United become the first club to retain the trophy since Arrigo Sacchi managed the feat with AC Milan in 1990 while Ferguson would also become only the second manager in history, after Liverpool's Bob Paisley, to win the European Cup three times.
"Its a strange one really because you try not to think about things too much, but at the back of your mind you know how special it could be if we could do it," said United midfielder Michael Carrick.
"Were determined to repeat the feeling we had last season, it was something Id never experienced before in my life and it really was an unbelievable feeling. To do that again would be incredible."
A fourth European triumph would leave United only one short of Liverpool but still well adrift of Real Madrids nine crowns.
Not surprisingly, Real's dominance in Europe has been a major thorn in the side of Barcelona, who have only two wins, over Sampdoria in 1992 and Arsenal in 2006, to their credit.
While United have prevailed in every final they have contested, Barca have suffered three defeats, going down to Benfica in 1961, losing 2-0 on penalties in their own stadium to a dour Steaua Bucharest side in 1986, and enduring a 4-0 footballing lesson by Milan in 1994.
But Andres Iniesta, the man who scored the last-minute equalizer against Chelsea to book his side's place in the final, believes Guardiola can cap his first season in charge of the Catalan giants in style.
"We have 90 minutes and we can win what no one has ever won. It is a chance to make history."
